Northern Realm Royal Dragons Shifter Boxset Bks 2-5

by Lisa Daneils

  “This is the problem that the Golden Kingdom is facing. Or was facing. The land was bonding to the much younger prince because his brother has become… disinterested. It was harming the kingdom, and for us that means a lot more than just a person taking power. The land was actually decaying. Fortunately, the bond between the land and Liam is dissolving quickly because he is bonded to the southern region and, apparently, the human kingdom, which I honestly did not believe until very, very recently. No one expected that. Anyway, my father’s kingdom is going through a different kind of decay because of his insanity. He had tried to expand the Blue Kingdom by trying to bond with the southern lands long before I was born. Very few people knew about his attempt because of how dangerous it is. Because of what happened to my father, I was able to give Liam something that helped him to keep his sanity, and his wife and unborn child gave him a reason to keep living. It’s not something we ever thought we’d see again, but apparently, we will be back up to four kingdoms in the next decade or so.”

  Alannah stood with her mouth open. Shaking her head, she said, “I can understand why you don’t usually share. That is a lot, and I am not sure how much of it made sense.”

  “Don’t worry. It will make sense to you soon enough.”

  “What? Why?”

  “And here’s the part that you probably aren’t going to agree with, so remember what I did with Brent, and know that everything will be fine. And think about what you want to do with Riley once he’s defeated. And would you like for me to break anything?”

  Alannah put her fingers on her temples. “I’m overloaded. I can’t process all of this.”

  She felt hands wrap around her own, then the hands were moved away from her face so that she was looking Aiden in the eyes. “Just let me know if you want me to break anything of Riley’s.”

  “A leg. Break one of his legs. He did that to my little brother when we were really young. It will let him know that I have not forgotten or forgiven it.”

  Aiden released her hands, “Alright, that is easy enough. Follow me, and think about how you see your future.” He turned and smiled at her, “By the end of the day, at least one of us will finally have a resolution to the problems that have lasted for far too long.”

  “I’m much more worried about you,” Alannah muttered as she followed him through the gates of the capital.

  Walking behind Aiden was an eye-opening experience. People got out of his way, and he walked unimpeded all the way to the palace. Outside of it, he approached one of the guards. “Prince Aiden of the Blue Kingdom, here to issue a challenge.”

  The guards looked at each other. Clearly, neither of them had any idea what he was talking about.

  Aiden popped his neck, then spoke again, “I am a prince from one of the foreign kingdoms, here to issue a challenge to the usurper. And warn him that the king and queen had better not be further harmed if he wants to see the day’s end.” The smile on his face did not match his tone, and that seemed to further confuse the guards.

  With a deep sigh, Alannah stepped forward, “He is my champion.” She pulled the hat from her head, letting her hair cascade around her face. That they understood. One of them ran off as the other bowed and scraped.

  The pair was led to the throne room where Riley was sitting on her father’s throne. Holding out his hands, he beamed at her, “My dear wife, I am so pleased to see you have finally returned. It is my sad duty to inform you that your parents have been most distressed over the past three years, and I am not sure how much longer they will live after what you put them through.”

  “Shut up, Riley.” Alannah treated him only slightly better than she had treated Brent. “I’m not here to provide any kind of legitimacy to what you have done. We are not married, and I would like for everyone here to understand that what you did was illegal and immoral. For one we cannot punish you, but for the other, you shall be punished for—”

  Riley stood up, “I will—”

  “Shut up, Riley,” Alannah’s voice echoed around them. “We are not married, so you have no claim to the throne. The records show that we never married.”

  “You have no way of proving that.”

  “There are many witnesses to what you have done, and after today, they will have more than enough reason to step forward to speak out against you, knowing that you cannot hurt them.”

  Riley tried to smile, “This is all just a mis—”

  “Shut. Up. Riley.” The way her words rang around the room punctuated her authority. “I present to you my champion, Prince Aiden of the Blue Kingdom. By law, you cannot turn him down, unless you are willing to admit what I have already said.”

  Riley looked around him, “A wife cannot present a champion against her husband.”

  “You are right,” Alannah agreed. “But again, we aren’t married.”

  Aiden stepped up beside her, a beatific smile on his face. “If I may. The usurper seems to think that he has a choice. So, let me offer one that will help make his position a little clearer.”

  He looked at Alannah. She gave a slight nod of her head.

  “Marvelous.” The smile that covered his face made her heart sing. It was a combination of mischievous and threatening, and she knew exactly what was coming. “Usurper—”

  “My name is—”

  Aiden’s voice was low and menacing, causing everyone to hold their breath to hear him. “Your name is irrelevant, just as you are. Do not interrupt me again if you want your head to remain on your shoulders. Honestly, do you even have a neck, you bombastic, presumptuous, arrogant buffoon? Human inbreeding at its worst.”

  Riley’s face was turning red, but even he must have felt the dangerous aura surrounding Aiden. Standing a little taller, the prince spoke more normally, “Either you can fight me as her champion or as the father of the future ruler. Because if I walk out of here and you have not acknowledged that your claim is a lie and that you have wronged the kingdom, I will destroy the lands.”

  Riley glared, his body trembling with anger. No one had spoken to him like that in years. “And how will you—”

  As soon as the usurper started to speak, Aiden lifted a hand and the ground under them shook. A look of terror passed over Riley’s face as Aiden smirked, “That’s just the beginning. Two minutes and there won’t be anything left of the palace.”

  Trying to hide her own shock, Alannah held up her chin. “So, will you fight my champion, or will you renounce this charade that you have perpetuated for three years?”

  Riley looked around, “That is no kind of choice.”

  “A fight it is!” Alannah said, holding up her hands.

  “She brings the destruction of the kingdom through our doors. Surely, no one supports her!”

  People had already started to change, their demand clear that they wanted to see a fight. Knowing that he would just look weak trying to quell the demand, Riley tried to act like it was his choice.

  “There will be no weapons for this fight! I insist on hand-to-hand combat.”

  “Very well,” Alannah said. Riley had been a remarkable fighter and led the military for several years. He was no doubt skilled, but he had no idea just what he was up against with Aiden.

  The pair squared off, Riley assuming a stiff pose and trying to give Aiden an intimidating look. Easily the bigger of the two, Riley had the same cocky air about him as Brent had not more than a few days before.

  Aiden was beaming and waving at people around them. It wasn’t exactly a coliseum, but Riley loved to keep a sizeable crowd around him. That meant there were plenty of people to witness the events of that day.

  As Aiden turned to wave at Alannah, Riley struck. He used a leg sweep to try to knock Aiden off his feet. Instead, he found himself on the ground, with a sharp pain shooting through his leg. Trying to move it, Riley looked down and noticed that it was bent in the middle of his thigh. The reality struck him, and he screamed as the people around them gasped.

  Aiden leaned down, his cold eyes
boring into the usurper. “It’s much harder to do that to an adult than a child. She has neither forgotten what you did, nor forgiven. The pain you will suffer will be unimaginable. And yet, she will be so much more merciful than if you were left in my hands.”

  Riley stood up shakily as a couple of physicians were rushed forward. Someone had called for them at the first mention of a fight, and they quickly hauled him to the door.

  Alannah spoke up to catch their attention, “Put him in the oubliette.”

  “But, Your Majesty, he needs medical attention immediately.”

  “And he will get it. A broken leg will not kill him for several days. Let him suffer for one day as a warning to those who would stand up for him that he has no power.”

  “But if we put him in there with this wound, he will not likely survive the night.”

  Sighing heavily, Alannah wanted to appear to be merciful. “Fine. Place him in a cell. Once he is cleared, we will move him to the oubliette.”

  The physicians nodded and led the assistants carrying him away.

  People began to surround Alannah, cheering for her. The only person she wanted to see had disappeared into the crowd.

  Chapter 10

  Love Isn’t about Logic

  The next few days were busy. Alannah had her parents restored to the thrones, but it quickly became obvious that their abilities were limited. Their time under the thumb of Riley had left them in a terrible state, barely able to take care of themselves. Her father appointed Alannah as the acting head while the king and queen began their recovery.

  There were so many things that she suddenly found herself in charge of handling that Alannah wasn’t sure where to begin. With no friends and no experience handling anyone other than herself in the last three years, Alannah quickly began to feel overwhelmed by her situation.

  But the most important thing was finding Aiden. She had not seen him since the fight. No one had seen him leave, which was even more concerning. All he had to do was slip out a door and literally fly away, and she would never be able to find him.

  Despite everything else she had going on, Alannah decided to find him the only way that she had available. In her bedroom, she had a large table placed in the middle. She had requested the latest known map from the Caden Kingdom, requesting specifically that they add the shifter kingdoms to it.

  By the third day, Alannah went through the jails and dungeons, releasing the majority of them because they were political prisoners. She made a shocking discovery when one of the guards told her that she needed to come with him. She recognized the guard as one of the ones who had played with her when she was small. Ignoring her advisors, Alannah hurried to follow him.

  When they finally reached the lowest floor of the dungeon, the guard, gasping for breath, pointed to one of the cells further down the hall. In that cell was her brother, Spencer.

  Staring at him, Alannah could not believe what she was seeing. “I saw, the sword.”

  Her brother laughed, “Yeah, me too. It should have killed me, but apparently, I’m really tough to kill.”

  She yanked the cell door open and rushed into her brother’s arms. Crying like a child, she couldn’t find the words to talk.

  That night he would recount his harrowing tale. How Riley had had him thrown into a room with instructions to bury him the next day. The family’s oldest physician and two of the best nurses had managed to get him out of the room and into a dungeon cell nearly four years ago. Every day they expected him to die, but they worked tirelessly all the same. Slowly, he pulled back from the brink, then they realized that they had a new problem. There was no way to get him safely out of the palace. He had been in the dungeon, hidden from Riley ever since.

  For the first time in years, Alannah stayed up late, telling stories with one of her siblings. Neither was ready to talk about their other siblings, but they had more than enough to relate since the last time they talked.

  Spencer was two years older than she. And though he had been in a basement, he still had a much better understanding of what had happened within the palace walls. To Alannah’s relief, Spencer was willing to take over the responsibilities of the kingdom. He also took the time to speak to the courts about how Riley had tried to kill him prior to his sham wedding to Alannah, ending any question of Riley’s machinations and any support that he may have hoped to find by the people he had appointed to their positions. They were soon swept out of office as well.

  All too soon, representatives from other kingdoms began arriving to re-establish ties to the kingdom. Many of them had refused to work with Riley, and eventually letters from the king and queen were no longer accepted as there was no way to guarantee that the words were from them. Riley had all but removed the kingdom from the protection of the human realms. Alannah made as much time to help her brother talk to them, but when marriage talks were brought up regarding matching her with any of the princes in the other kingdoms, both she and her brother quickly shut them down. Any time there was pushback, she would bring up the agreement with the dragon shifter kingdoms, and how they wanted to be a part of that agreement. And that meant that until all four of the princes had chosen their partners, she had the right to refuse any proposals. She was the only princess who had taken that approach, as the rest were worried about living among a different species.

  There were only two dragon shifter princes left, so the attempts to woo her did not entirely stop, but they did slow as she had been so insistent that she not give in without showing good faith that they wanted to share the burdens of the other human kingdoms.

  Several weeks passed, and with Spencer taking care of most of the management, Alannah had a lot more time to dedicate to setting up a trip to the Blue Kingdom. Her desire to go alone was denied by both her parents and her brother, and every day since, her retinue had grown to the point where she knew that they would never make it out of the kingdom, let alone to the Blue Kingdom.

  Standing and staring at the map, Alannah was trying to figure out how to slip away from everyone. The kingdom had been restored to her family, and there was now a much better leader for her people.

  Spencer’s voice forced her to look up. Before she could hide the map, Spencer placed a hand over it. “You are trying to slip away, even though we’ve already said no. Why?”

  “It wasn’t my idea to do any of this. If it had been up to me, I would still be on the run, or more likely dead.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Alannah cleared her throat. The reason for her return, and the events immediately before it, were things she hadn’t shared with anyone yet. Aiden had disappeared as soon as the fight was over. She wasn’t ready to talk about him, but Spencer wasn’t like everyone else. Since they had been reunited, the pair had been nearly inseparable. When she left, he would be the most affected by that. It seemed only fair to tell him just how important the trip was to her. “Um, you heard that a champion returned with me.”

  Spencer smiled, “That was quite a brilliant bit, pretending he was from one of the dragon shifter kingdoms. I’ll bet Riley was terrified.”

  “Not at all. Riley was so disconnected from the agreement that he had no idea that dragon shifters were real, let alone feel that they were any threat to him.”

  A frown creased her brother’s face. “Then why would your champion say that he was if it wasn’t a tactical move?”

  A withering expression crossed her face. “Really? You can’t come up with any other reason why my champion would say that?”

  Spencer laughed, “Are you trying to say that an actual dragon shifter came into our kingdom, and convinced you to return?”

  “I’m not saying that at all. I—”

  The most welcome laugh echoed around the room. Spencer turned with a questioning look as Alannah turned and stared, her fingers starting to pinch her arm.

  That same amused smile caused that familiar twinkle in Aiden’s eyes as he said, “If there was one thing that I learned about your sister, you can
’t give her options.”

  Spencer stood up. “Who are you? And how did you get here?”

  Aiden gave Alannah a little nod, “Is she alright?”

  Spencer turned and looked at his sister. “Alannah?”

  With a cry, she stood up and ran at Aiden. Slamming into his chest, she beat him with her fists. “You just left, you complete and utter—”

  “I missed you too.” He kissed the top of her head.

  “What is going on?” Spencer crossed the room, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

  Alannah wrinkled her nose up at Aiden. “Spencer, this is Aiden. Aiden, this is my brother, Spencer.”

  “He doesn’t look dead to me,” Aiden said, his eyes taking in the young man.

  “I’ll let him tell you the story sometime. For now, you have a lot of explaining to do.”

  Spencer held up his hands, “I don’t understand what is going on. Who is Aiden?”

  “Yeah, Alannah, who am I?” Aiden smirked at her.

  “He’s the… person who found me dying near a river after killing a couple of thieves. He’s the one who decided to take the kingdom back. He is my champion. And whether or not he wants to hear it, he’s the only person I will agree to marry.”

  Spencer’s eyes widened, “Are you telling me that you actually encountered one of the four princes from the kingdoms on the other side of the mountains? While you were dying? An unfathomable stroke of good luck when you most needed it. And he is the reason for everything that has happened since that encounter?”